Wildy popular Tumblr blog matches bikinis with book covers

After visiting the new Tumblr blog Matchbook.nu, you’ll think twice before tossing a book in your beach bag. The simple yet brilliant site pairs swimsuits with their book cover equivalent—and might inspire you to look on your shelf for a book that matches your black-and-white striped suit. Don DeLillo’s “White Noise” (the 1990s cover) might be an option. Take a look at these matching books and bikinis from Matchbook.nu for more ideas.

Kate Imbach, a 31-year-old living in San Francisco, got the idea for Matchbook.nu a few weeks ago when she was at the pool and noticed a woman reading a book that incidentally matched her bathing suit almost perfectly.

When Imbach got home that day, she hopped online and looked at lots of book covers and bikinis. After awhile she started making connections between the two and Matchbook.nu was born.

The result is a simple yet smart Tumblr blog with swimsuits and books that look so similar that you assume book cover designers must be talking to swimsuit designers. Or at least they must be hanging out at the same bars in Manhattan, drinking the same Kool-Aid.

“I think the Kurt Vonnegut cover is the most mind-blowing,” Imbach told SFGate. “I love this Sloane Crosley cover and it took me a long time to find the perfect match. I read Prep a long time ago and I just guessed that super preppy Vineyard Vines would have a match for it. And of course they did.”

In only a few weeks Matchbook.nu took off and media outlets throughout the world have written about the site.

“Whether it’s pairing Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment with the Trinity swimsuit by Chromat or Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi with men’s swimming trunks by EUROPANN, Imbach’s book-swimsuit duos are as diverse as they are compatible,” a story from the UK’s Stylist.com reads.

Imbach hunts for images for her blog at night but she’s also working creatively by day. She’s the Style Editor at NewlyWish, a wedding registry site; advises the online radio site 8tracks (where she used to be VP of Marketing); and makes short documentaries like this one about a modernist classical composer who for the last 23 years has worked as cab driver in San Francisco.

Does Imbach wear a swimsuit that matches her book cover when she goes to the beach? “I’m committed to matching from now on,” she says. “Right now I’m really into deep plunge one pieces, structure, and big prints.”

And what about her favorite book? “The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which strikes the perfect balance between literature and murder mystery,” she shares. No swimsuit match for this one yet but keep checking her site because she’s continuously updating it.